Some mysticism added to the space theme

Ignea is a symphonic metal band from Kiev (Ukraine). They are currently working on their album debut. Let's sate our curiosity with a few questions.

Hello, I’m Rainer from Germany. Thank you that I can do this interview with you.

Hey there, it’s Evgeny the keyboards player and composer. Thank you for having us for the interview!

Until recently, the band Ignea was completely unknown for me. And for a lot of music fans in Europe the band would be unknown as well. Therefore, please introduce yourself.

We are IGNEA, from Kiev, Ukraine, and we play some metal :)

In 2015, you have released the single "Alga". There is also an elaborately produced video. You are playing with a large symphony orchestra. Was the song was also recorded in collaboration with an orchestra?

Yes, almost all orchestrations you hear in the song are the real symphonic orchestra. Some people even may note that half of orchestra footage have microphones set up, as due to lack of time we have recorded audio and video simultaneously.

You call your style as Oriental Metal. I have listened to your songs several times and have to confess that I hardly heard oriental influences. How do you incorporate Oriental sound into your compositions?

Funny enough, most of pieces we have released officially are not that oriental, except for of Petrichor, of course. However, each our track has oriental flavours in the melodies, just take a closer listening. We will fix this with our upcoming full length album, which will feature lots of middle-eastern elements and instruments like baglama, ney, bouzouki, kemenler and some percussions.

In the press release I read that your recording your debut album at the moment. How far you are with the recordings and what can the audience expect from the album? And when will it release?

We have recorded almost half of the instruments, only part of vocals, keyboards and folk instruments are left. As I said, it will be much more oriental-ish than previous things and will indeed feature middle-eastern musical elements much more than just maqam scales :)

How does your song writing proceed? Is there a main songwriter or write you the songs when you play together in the rehearsal room?

Yes, I do almost everything in my head and send raw demos and guitar tabs to the band, and we tweak the idea to the final stage at the rehearsals afterwards. Of course, I often incorporate ideas, riffs and tunes from other guys, or use melodies from middle-eastern folklore.

You called your EP "Sputnik". When the first Sputnik in 1957 started, you were not born yet. Why did you choose this topic?

We were just a starting band and went the easiest way: lyrics just contained topics from movies we just have seen, plus some mysticism added to the space theme of the EP. It’s obvious and well-known way for a new band and we don’t use it anymore now.

In "Petrichor" You have worked together with Yossi Sassi (ex Orphaned Land). How it came to this collaboration?

When we have released Sputnik, we’ve sent some copies to people who inspired us, and Yossi was very kind to offer us a collaboration himself. At that time, I just wrote a song with a bouzouki, and Yossi just had his signature bouzoukitara revealed… :) BTW, Yossi Sassi Band just have released their new album, you definitely should check it out!

In Ukraine, there was a number of political and military crises in the past. What are the working conditions for rock and metal bands in your country?

Politics and war don’t affect metal at all. Rock/metal scene in Ukraine is very weak, apart from some outstanding acts like Stoned Jesus or Jinjer, and generally consists of a bunch of the same 20-ish bands who play on the same festivals each year and just jerk off one to another in their own community, and a loads of bands who haven’t any chances to play anywhere apart their local bar. We are tired of that and we do not see Ukraine as a place to play our music.

You have played only shows in Ukraine and Moldova so far. Will you go to other European countries on tour?

We hope to do some European tours or festivals after LP release, and we would really like to play in some other countries such as Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, Caucassian and North-African countries. My personal dream is to tour in UK :)

Thank you for the interview and I'm looking forward to your debut album. And maybe it will work sometimes with appearances in Germany.